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Chapter 117: The Gilded Maze

Author: Anney GW
last update publish date: 2026-02-17 11:31:22

[Alice’s POV]

The Swiss morning was a postcard of perfection — crisp air, a sky so blue it looked painted, and the distant, rhythmic chime of cowbells echoing across the valley. But as I sat in my wheelchair on the veranda, watching the mist lift off Lake Zurich, the beauty felt like a thin veneer over a very deep, very dark crack.

Endall organized a ‘sightseeing day.’ It was a diplomatic necessity, playing host to the man who had just handed the Institute a billion-dollar lifeline. But as the
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    [Alice’s POV]When David appeared on my doorstep late at night, looking very agitated, I quickly let him in.He had a baby capsule with him, holding a newborn. The baby was fretting and crying.“I-I can’t stop him crying,” David exclaimed. “Nothing I do works. I’m out of my mind with frustration.”I picked the baby up out of the capsule and placed him upright, gently pressed against my shoulder. I patted his little back and he soon calmed down.“I think babies know when you are tense. It unsettles them,” I said.I looked at David. Relief was written across his face now.“I have to assume this is Lily’s baby?”He chuckled. “Right. Of course. He came a little early. He’s called Ricky.”We went into the lounge and sat down. I looked down at the tiny little bundle lying in my arms. The baby had fallen asleep.“Alice,” David said, “I’m not suitable to raise him on my own. And I don’t trust paid strangers to genuinely care about him. I don’t know which way to turn.”I understood his concern

  • The Perfect Wife Walked Away   Chapter 339: An Unscheduled Arrival

    [David’s POV]The horrified look on Lily’s face when the judge read out her sentence will haunt me to my dying days.They hustled her out of that courtroom, whimpering like a wounded animal.In handcuffs. In denial.The baggy green prison tunic failed to hide her advanced pregnancy.Before the trial began, she had begged me to make sure she gave birth by caesarian. She said she couldn’t survive a natural birth.While that claim was a little over dramatic, I assured her I would do all I could to make it happen.So, now I had an uphill battle to convince the Women’s Penitentiary where they were sending her, to permit a caesarian delivery. The Corrections Facility had what passed for a birthing room for inmates in Lily’s condition.I was informed that regulations did not permit voluntary caesarians. In rare circumstances, a birth emergency was handled at the nearest local hospital that had an obstetrics department.But as usual, money talks. The penitentiary was a privately run institute

  • The Perfect Wife Walked Away   Chapter 338: The Evidence Doesn’t Lie

    [Alice’s POV]I was starting to feel very fatigued.I have been caught up in this trial for too long today, and my energy is plummeting. I want to go home.They have me in the witness stand. Lily’s defense barrister has been badgering me for what feels like hours. It wasn’t, of course, but that’s what it felt like. He was trying to find inconsistencies in my evidence; something to pounce on. But my testimony never varied. I gave him no chance to discredit me.Finally, he retired to the defense’s bench and sat down.Now, the prosecution’s barrister had right of rebuttal.He approached the witness box and in gentle tones he said, “Please accept the court’s apologies, Doctor McCutchen. We understand that you have been battling serious health issues. But I need you to help me with a certain piece of the evidence that is provided on your original witness statement.”He looked around the court room in dramatic fashion, before turning back to me. “Please tell the court what exhibit DiX2 is,

  • The Perfect Wife Walked Away   Chapter 337: A Token Payment

    [ Alice’s POV]The chemotherapy has taken its toll these past few months, leaving me fatigued and nauseous much of the time. But my course of treatment is coming to an end.Scans have found no further tumors, so far, which means that thankfully, I haven’t progressed to stage 4. Adam and I have found this a really reassuring sign.Could the battle finally be over?I’ve been taking care of myself to aid my recovery, and having dedicated domestic staff at home has been a blessing.But most of all, Adam’s support has been priceless. He is my strength, my guiding light, leading me out of what sometimes felt like an overwhelming forest of darkness and doom.Lily’s trial is coming up, starting next week, and I was dreading it. The National Office For Prosecutions has kept me informed on how the case against her has been stacking up.They found the van involved, and tips from the public helped them find the location of the warehouse I was taken to before going to the river.Thank you, Endall

  • The Perfect Wife Walked Away   Chapter 336: He Won’t Miss It

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    [Adam’s POV]My father’s funeral was on Saturday.I was in two minds whether to attend. I know it was expected that I should. I guess it was also expected that I would read a eulogy at the ceremony.How could I do that when I had nothing good to say about the man, and plenty to say about his failings as a human being and as a father?Alice and I talked it over. It was a relief to share my conflicted feelings about it.“Perhaps you could just put in a brief appearance,” she suggested. “And get away as soon as you decently can.”I left it until the morning of the funeral to decide what I was going to do. Taking the cue from Alice, I appeared at the church at the last minute, sat in a row near the back and ducked back out of the church as soon as I could get away. And I didn’t attend the wake afterwards at his mansion on the family estate.Instead, I contacted an upmarket real estate firm that afternoon, to place the property on the market. I couldn’t bring myself to live in his shadow,

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    [Alice’s POV]The air on the terrace was freezing, but the tension radiating from the man approaching us was colder.Adam didn't rush. He moved with a calculated, predatory grace, his tuxedo fitting him like a suit of armor. I gripped the armrests of my wheelchair hard with both hands. My heart was

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    [Alice 's POV]The air in the grand ballroom was thick with the scent of lilies and chilled, expensive champagne. It was a world away from the sterile silence of the lab, a shimmering bubble of old-world wealth that felt like a fever dream.Endall stayed at my side, his hand hovering near the small

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  • The Perfect Wife Walked Away   Chapter 123: Collateral Damage

    [Alice’s POV]The Swiss winter wasn't just cold; it had a way of biting through you, a cruel precision that seemed to target the bones. I pulled my wool scarf tighter around my neck, trying to preserve the little heat I had managed to generate. It was a losing battle. My metabolism was burning thro

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    [Alice's POV]This feeling of loss of control rapidly bloomed in the bathroom. His blood-tasting kiss traveled all the way down from my lips, burying itself in the hollow of my neck, nipping sensitive flesh almost vengefully. Searing nerve endings along my skin became reawakened from a too long slu

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